Monday 5 May 2014

Theatre of Blood | On Location in… Chelsea

Back in March, I visited the Putney based locations that featured in Theatre of Blood, including the site of the now demolished Hippodrome that stood in for Lionheart's lair, the old Burbage Theatre, and the lovely cottage in Charlwood Road that was Meredith Merridew's home.

Yesterday, I took a trip into the rarefied setting of Cheyne Walk in SW3. Today its the home of oligarchs and lots of expensive Bentley's and sports cars, but in the film it was where possessive theatre critic Solomon Psaltery (Jack Hawkins) lived with his socialite wife Maisie (Diana Dors). Vincent Price's Lionheart disguises himself as a masseur and, in a scene straight out of Shakespeare's Othello, the jealous Psaltery ends up suffocating his wife to death. Either side of the house, are the former residences of Pre-Raphaelite artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti and Victorian writer George Eliot.



Just around the corner from Cheyne Walk, amongst the gorgeous side streets, is Justice Walk. This tiny little road was where Oliver Larding (Robert Coote) arrived with a police escort for a wine tasting session. The rest of the scene, in which the sozzled critic ended up in a butt of Malmsey wine ala George, the Duke of Clarence, in Shakespeare's Richard III, was filmed at another location, which has been identified as either the old London Dungeon (now closed) or the crypt at St Martin's in the Field by Trafalgar Square. Interestingly, No 7 Justice Walk was once the location of wine merchants, Herbert Allen Smith Ltd, who occupied the premises from 1903 to 1985.


Theatre of Blood is out on Blu-ray in the UK from Arrow Video
* Read my review (HERE)  

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Great photos - I'd love to go on a tour like this! :)